Object numberM2010/001:022
DescriptionTwo-page typed testimony of Chaim Stawicki born in Piatnica in the county of Lomza. It was recorded in the 'Refugee House' in Bucharest on 6 June 1945 by Jadwiga Sapera. The eyewitness account describes the torture and murder of the 250 Jews in Piatnica. The family moved to Lomza where there were 12,000 Jews. A ghetto was formed and a work camp was formed outside the ghetto where everyone had to work. He was occupied building bridges. Beatings and torture accompanied this work. He describes November 1 1942 when the Jews from Lomze were resettled in Zambrow. During the six week period of living in the camp they received nothing to eat but raw turnip. He was transported with a group to East Prussia to the camp Schippenbeil Kreis Gerdaven. He describes beatings and punishment during work for the smallest deviations and one particular incident when a Jew was ordered to undress naked and go through the barbed wire that surrounded the camp. "Whilst lying on the ground and bleeding from his wounds an SS man was striking his head with his heel so long that the spirit of the victim had left him,"
Jadwiga Sapera was born Hermina Silberfeld, to Polish Jews Nathan Silberfeld and Anna (nee Hollander) on 27 November 1914 in Miskolc, Hungary. In 1918, the family returned to their home in Stary Sacz, Poland. Hermina attended a convent, which gave her a knowledge of German and Catholicism that was helpful for her survival. In 1942, Hermina attained false identification papers of a Polish-Catholic woman, Jadwiga Eleonora Jarzemiszewska. As Jadwiga she was able to find new accommodation and work, and at the end of 1942, moved to Krakow to better safeguard her secret. In 1943 she moved to Warsaw and then to Budapest, until liberation. After the war she kept the name Jadwiga and got work in Bucharest typing the testimonies of concentration camp survivors for the Association of Polish Jewish Refugees. She found out her father had died of hunger and disease, but her mother and brother survived. She was reunited with them in Poland. She lived in Katowice with her husband Jan Sapera who she met and married in 1946. They immigrated to Australia in 1958 with their three children. In the last decade of her life she re-adopted her Jewish name Hermina.
Jadwiga Sapera was born Hermina Silberfeld, to Polish Jews Nathan Silberfeld and Anna (nee Hollander) on 27 November 1914 in Miskolc, Hungary. In 1918, the family returned to their home in Stary Sacz, Poland. Hermina attended a convent, which gave her a knowledge of German and Catholicism that was helpful for her survival. In 1942, Hermina attained false identification papers of a Polish-Catholic woman, Jadwiga Eleonora Jarzemiszewska. As Jadwiga she was able to find new accommodation and work, and at the end of 1942, moved to Krakow to better safeguard her secret. In 1943 she moved to Warsaw and then to Budapest, until liberation. After the war she kept the name Jadwiga and got work in Bucharest typing the testimonies of concentration camp survivors for the Association of Polish Jewish Refugees. She found out her father had died of hunger and disease, but her mother and brother survived. She was reunited with them in Poland. She lived in Katowice with her husband Jan Sapera who she met and married in 1946. They immigrated to Australia in 1958 with their three children. In the last decade of her life she re-adopted her Jewish name Hermina.
Production date 1945
Subjecttestimonies, survivors, survivors, murders, eyewitness accounts, deportation
Object nametestimonies
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 210.00 mm
height: 300.00 mm
Language
- Polish Testimony 22
This record of testimony was taken in the Refugee House in Bucharest, Calea Mosilor 128, dated 6th of June 1945.
With the aim of submitting this testimony presents himself STAWICKI CHAIM born on the 5th/X11/1926 in PIATNICA in the county of LOMZA.
In 1939 we lived in PIATNICA. In that year 250 Jews lived in Piatnica. I lived with my family which was made up of 5 persons, that is my mother and father, two brothers and a sister. On the 5th of September 1939 the Germans took over the city. They immediately persecuted the Jews. They were catching them for work where they were tortured and beaten and even killed. After two weeks the Germans left our region and instead the Soviets took over but also left this terrain on the 28th/V1/1941 when the Germans again came back to us.
We moved to Lomza. In this city lived 12000 Jews. Two weeks after the military police came to our home and took me and my father away to the police station. There I came across Jews who were also brought the same way from their homes. They began beating us one after the other. We were beaten with fists and sticks until loss of consciousness. I was locked up in a cell with no food and drink. They were threatening to kill me. They took my father to the cemetery with many others and shot them to death. Several hundred persons were killed.
At the beginning of July the Germans created a ghetto in LOMZE. Outside the ghetto they sat up a arbeitslager (work camp) and everyone had to work there with no exceptions, women same as men I was occupied (worked) building bridges. We were paid 50 Pfenigs per day, and they did not give us any assistance for our livelihood. Beatings and torture accompanied this work. I also worked as a bricklayer for a German from LOMZE who was always very vindictive towards us because he contended that the Jews were the cause of the war. One day he brought down SS men and he got them especially drunk. He ordered us to carry bricks. He placed the Germans at the entry and at the exit. Any one of us who went past the first ones or the second ones received a beating. When we bent over because of the blows and the bricks fell out of our hands the beatings became merciless.
This state of affairs continued until the 1st November 1942. On that day all the Jews from LOMZE were resettled in ZAMBROW. At 3 o’clock in the morning the ghetto was surrounded and no one could get out of there. From the surrounding districts they collected the peasants who arrived with their own carts. The Jews were loaded on to the carts and taken to the LOMZA station where the train carriages were waiting. The people were crammed into the wagons very tightly and in that manner we arrived to ZAMBROW, a distance of 25 kilometres from LOMZA. There we set up a camp in which were collected around 1000 Jews in number. This place was only temporary. We were guarded by the German SS and Gestapo. There was strong hunger, cold and disease. During the entire 6 weeks of our living in the camp we received nothing to eat except raw turnip. Fifteen percent of people could not withstand these terrible conditions and died. From ZAMBROW part of the transport was taken to East Prussia and part to Auschwitz.
I was transported with a group to East Prussia to the camp SCHIPPENBEIL KREIS GERDAVEN where we worked at the airport. It was not a big camp and was made up of 300 men and 500 women. After our arrival we were taken to our barracks, registered, disinfected and handed striped clothing. Our civilian clothes were taken away from us. The camp was surrounded with barbed wire and guarded by the SS. Women worked as domestic house cleaners. Food was very poor consisting of 300 grams of bread and 2 litres of soup per day. Men worked hard, 12 hours per day, levelling the airport, loading bombs onto aeroplanes, building aeroplanes etc. Our guards were SS men whose names I don’t remember. We were beaten and punished during work for the smallest omission (deviation). There were incidents of deaths among the Jews from beatings and shootings. For example a Jew was chosen from among the workers, ordered to undress naked and go through the barbed wire that surrounded the camp Bloodied after going through the barbed wires they set upon him dogs. The Jew was not able to pass through the second row of barbed wires. Whilst lying on the ground and bleeding from his wounds an SS man was striking his head with his heel so long that the spirit of the victim had left him, (he died).
I was in the camp until February 1945 when I was freed by the Red Army. Around 50 persons survived.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mrs Jadwiga Sapera